7 Facts You Need to Know About Medicare Advantage Plans

Who is eligible?

In all 50 states, a Medicare advantage plan will only be available to you, when you are already enrolled to Medicare part A or B. Without enrolling to basic Medicare, offered by Social Security, you won´t be eligible to purchase any additional health insurance.

Who offers it?

If you have been wondering, where to get these advantage plans from, the answer is private health insurance companies. Advantage plans are not offered directly from Social Security, like what the case is with Medicare pans.

Same, yet different

The Medicare advantage plans have been standardized and law orders that a benefit plan A, for example, offers the same benefits throughout the United States. And in fact, in 47 states you can move freely, known that your Medicare advantage plan will remain the same and will offer you the same benefits. Unless, you move to these three states: Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Minnesota. In these three states Medicare advantage plans have similarities, but are standardized differently

The older you are, the higher the price

Health insurance companies have the right to set the price for your premium rate individually. One factor that affects the premium rate is age. Some health insurance companies base the premium rate on the age you are in at the time of your enrollment, while others increase the premium rate the older you get. It all depends on the health insurance company, really. Other factors that affect the premium rate cost are: zip code, gender and tobacco use. Those who use tobacco are known to pay up to 10% more per month for their premium rates, compared to those who don´t use this substance.

Visit any doctor

When only enrolled to a Medicare part A or B, you need to watch out which doctor you are visiting. In these cases, you can only visit doctors who are part of the provider network. When enrolled to Medicare advantage plans, you can visit any doctor, as long as they accept Medicare. You won´t need to look at provider networks.

Medicare advantage plans are all about timing. Although you can enroll whenever you want, the best possible timing is to do so during your open enrollment period. This is a time that starts on the day of your 65th birthday and lasts for six months. The premium rate costs will be so low during this period, because the health insurance company is not allowed to base it on your health state. Also, you are guaranteed enrollment, as the health insurance company is not allowed to deny you either.